Clark pollet



CLARK POLLEY, or SINKINGsrnINeQoHIo.

Letters Patent No, 78,128, Velated May 19, 1868.

IMPBOVED MOLE-TRAP.

ttige Selgehnh' referrer in it there o@einer ttent mit making niet et the time.

'.lO ALL WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: i

Be it known that I, CLARK POLLEY, of4 Sinking Spring, in the county of Highland, and State of Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Mole-Traps.; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description thereof, which will enable others skilled in the art to make and use the saine, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this specification, in which- Figure 1 is aside view of my improved mole-trap, with the working part shown in section. f

l Figure 2 is asectional view of the trap, the section being taken through the line z zc, iig. 1..

Similarletters of reference indicate like parts.

AThe object of this invention is to furnish a trap for the destruction of moles, and its construction and operation will be dulyr set forth in the following. l

The ravages ofthe burrowing animal, commonlycalled the mole, is well known, and notwithstanding many ingenious devices have beeneinvented for the purpose of mitigating their destructive effects, nothing which was simple, cheap, and thoroughly efficient was produced until the invention set forth in the following was devised.

In fig. 1 my trap is represented set for action, and in iig. 2 the same is shown sprung. y

h The pointed stakes A, united by the cross-piece B, support the working parts, which latter consist oi', first, a trigger-stai?, n, sliding freely within the tube a, to which latter is aixed the cross-h`ead b, bearing the pointsjf at each end. The tube a slides with easy contact upon 4an inner tube, d, the upper end-of which is affixed to tho'cross-piece Bf The trigger-staf passes ethrough both tubes and the cross-piece B, andprojects above the latter, as shown. v

vThe upper end oi' the said staf? is slitted centrally with a out, 1n which latter is pivoted the catchlever l,

the upper end of which is bent at an angle of forty-live degrees, more or less, end is slotted, as shown at It, to

' work upon a pin, m, passing through the vsaid saw-cut. The lever is pivoted to the cross-pieceB atj, and its lowerA end terminatcs'in a horizontal projecton',l z', which projectsthrough a. hole in `the tube d, and also through u similar hole in the tube a, when the latter tube is brought down against the tension of the coil-spring g, so that its hole, e,- will coincide with tho hole c of' the tube d, and thereby admit the projection z' of the catchlcver, as shown at fig. 1. 4

The trap is then set, Wheruthe trigger-staff is pressed upward, the pin m, in the slot k, will nctuate the lever,vto withdraw the projection from the hole e, when the tube a, bearing the metal points will besprung downward with force, and will thus impale the animal underneath, for the pointed stakes A A are pushed into the ground across the path of the mole until the crutch-end 7L of the trigger-steif isin close proximity to the surface, and crosswise of the moles path, so that the animal, in effecting a passage underneath the crutchhenri, will aetuate the triggerstaff upward, which will canso the lever to spring the trap. There are several of "the pointsf at each end of the crutch-head, so that the in'ole will be transiixed when coming from either direction.

vSeveral of these traps may be set out across the vpath of moles, which are readily discerned by the puffed ridge of earth, andas moles retrace their course several times, the trap will be certain to impale them., A

Thus a few traps will protect an ordinary-sized garden in the spring, when the newly-planted seeds are often entirely eaten up by moles. i p A Having thus described my invention,I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent- 'lhe combination of one or more pointedsta-kes A with a cross-piece, B, the tubes e and d, the spring g,

trigger-staff n, lever Z, crutch-head b, having points ff, all constructed and operating together substantially as shown and described, and for the purpose set forth. i CLARK POLLEY.

Witnesses:

EDWIN MeKEEHAN, Jesse M. WoLcrz. 

